Falcon Heavy - 7&8 Reuse - Elon's Roadster Demo - LC-39A

[scaesare]

A 300mph impact would have been bad news for sure, but without knowing more about the structure of the landing deck its hard to say what sort of damage would have resulted. I suspect the ASDS hull would have remained intact — assuming an impact somewhere near the center of the target area — but the deck would probably have been penetrated. However I am only guessing.

One of the initial failed landing attempts punched a hole in the droneship deck I believe. (On edit: thanks @dhanson865 for posting that footage)

It’s really a good thing that the core landed a few hundred yards away from the ship.

Was it really that far away? I've seen it reported that it hit the water, but still managed to take out two of the motors on the droneship. It seems like that might have required an pretty nearby water impact in order to damage the underwater motor units (which is what I assume is meant).

 

[mongo]

One of the initial failed landing attempts punched a hole in the droneship deck I believe.



Was it really that far away? I've seen it reported that it hit the water, but still managed to take out two of the motors on the droneship. It seems like that might have required an pretty nearby water impact in order to damage the underwater motor units (which is what I assume is meant).

Water based pressure wave + rocket pieces (perhaps they were sucked in after?)?

 

[ecarfan]

Its interesting that you can see the picture of the ASDS in the reflection from the glass. He actually says they lost center core before the sky/picture goes totally grey, and then later the "dust" clears and you see an empty landing pad.

Wow, nice catch! I completely missed seeing how some of the screens at the front of the control room were reflected in the glass at the rear, and that by chance one of the screens was the feed from the deck of the ASDS. Here is a screen cap, cropped, of those reflected screens at the moment we hear the words “We lost the center core”. The ASDS deck is empty and undisturbed. Look at the top left corner of this image.

 

[scaesare]

Water based pressure wave + rocket pieces (perhaps they were sucked in after?)?

Certainly could be. Pressure wave is fluid can carry tremendous energy. However pressure should fall off with the square of distance, so something "a few hundred yards away" would have some significant distance in which to dissipate.

This is just he first time I've heard a report of what the distance was, so I'm wondering what the source is? When I listened to Elon's press conference I don't recall him quantifying it (but I could be wrong... it was late.)

 

[ecarfan]

Its interesting that you can see the picture of the ASDS in the reflection from the glass. He actually says they lost center core before the sky/picture goes totally grey, and then later the "dust" clears and you see an empty landing pad.

I re-watched the launch control video from 38:20 to 38:50. You are right, there was definitely a change in the appearance of the ASDS deck for several seconds, it got lighter as if a mist obscured it, but it is still possible to differentiate the deck surface from the sky. My guess is that the change in appearance is due to water thrown into the air by the impact. I don’t think it was due to smoke because the rocket would not explode on impact since the engines hit the water first and would instantly be submerged. But I could be wrong...

 

[ecarfan]

This is just he first time I've heard a report of what the distance was, so I'm wondering what the source is?

Sorry but I can’t now recall where I read the “three hundred yards” figure. I will try to find it.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I think the 300 yards was an Elon tweet... it's definitely out there from an official source.

 

[Cosmacelf]

I think the 300 yards was an Elon tweet... it's definitely out there from an official source.

He sometimes isn’t correct when tweeting in the moment. Obviously someone got the calculations wrong when he initially tweeted about the Roadster heading to the asteroid belt.

 

[scaesare]

It's cool... I'm not challenging it... just first I'd heard, so if folks have heard that then don't waste time looking for it on my account.

 

[Brass Guy]

I haven't seen the tweet, but in the news conference, Elon stated (after stressing the possible inaccuracy of his information) that the core hit about 100 meters away at a speed of about 300mph or 500kph, "... which was enough to take out 2 thrusters and shower the deck with shrapnel." This is about 17:45 into the video.

 

[Peter Thomas]

Thought Elon and the Space X and Tesla team and fans would like this rendition of Space Oddity:

Peter

 

[Peter Thomas]

Disagree?? I thought all our goals are the same???
Or is the interpretation of Bowie's music that you don't like?
Chris Hadfield recorded this in space and Bowie emailed him that he loved this version.
Also, Chris has been educating children around the world about space and has a lot of videos which explain what it is like to live in space.
Chris is much more then just someone who sang David Bowie's space oddity.
He had taken his responsibility of sharing his stay on the space station with so many people.

 

[Grendal]

Thought Elon and the Space X and Tesla team and fans would like this rendition of Space Oddity:

Peter

I think it is the greatest music video ever created. It's iconic in the same way that the Roadster orbiting Earth will now be iconic. Both are inspirational to anyone who has a mild understanding of our place in the Universe.

 

[Peter Thomas]

Thank you Grendal for your comments,
As Chris has pointed out, we are not robots but humans who have a great culture of diversity, music and art which we likely share with other advanced civilizations in the Universe. I am looking forward to taking a Space X cruise to Mars and enjoying a jam session at Rick's Cafe when I get there. Please reserve two tickets for a Space X Cruise to Mars please, for Lynn and I.

Best wishes to Space X staff and Tesla staff for making such great things happen,

Peter
PS Check ignition and may God's love be with you.

 

[palmer_md]

I re-watched the launch control video from 38:20 to 38:50. You are right, there was definitely a change in the appearance of the ASDS deck for several seconds, it got lighter as if a mist obscured it, but it is still possible to differentiate the deck surface from the sky. My guess is that the change in appearance is due to water thrown into the air by the impact. I don’t think it was due to smoke because the rocket would not explode on impact since the engines hit the water first and would instantly be submerged. But I could be wrong...

The other interesting thing to watch is this image from the hosted webcast. It looks like he got confirmation about the drone ship, and was about to say something and was told in his earpiece not to say anything. You can see the same image of the haze and then the haze getting blown away leaving an empty ship in camera view.

Around the 31 minute mark.

 

[dhanson865]

He sometimes isn’t correct when tweeting in the moment. Obviously someone got the calculations wrong when he initially tweeted about the Roadster heading to the asteroid belt.

I don't think so. I think that was creative/artistic license describing a path that goes past mars orbit towards the asteroid belt.

Kind of like saying your path will take you past burger king towards chipotle even if you won't ever make it to chipotle.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I'm still surprised we haven't seen any other video from the drone ship released. Don't they have several camera angles running? If that one camera was obliterated, what about the camera or cameras on the opposite side of the ship? Wouldn't they have captured the impact -- which BTW does seem pretty close to the ship (not the mythical 300 yards).

 

[Nikxice]

I'm still surprised we haven't seen any other video from the drone ship released. Don't they have several camera angles running? If that one camera was obliterated, what about the camera or cameras on the opposite side of the ship? Wouldn't they have captured the impact -- which BTW does seem pretty close to the ship (not the mythical 300 yards).

I think at the post FH launch news conference Elon said that if any video footage survived they'd probably save it for the next blooper reel. I'd imagine that this would be released no sooner than after the first FH center core ASDS success. Likely exists and should be fun to watch someday!

 

[f-stop]

Elon just tweeted a brief YouTube video with clips from the FH launch, including a brief glimpse of the core crashing into the water just missing the drone ship, about 1m 14sec in

Elon Musk on Twitter

Quote:

Why Falcon Heavy & Starman? Life cannot just be about solving one sad problem after another. There need to be things that inspire you, that make you glad to wake up in the morning and be part of humanity. That is why we did it. We did for you.

 

[MyJoule]

Awesome- Thanks for the links. This is the best- Give me hope for mankind